Man who served 13 years for murder is acquitted at a retrial in Germany

A man who spent 13 years in prison in Germany for the death of an elderly woman was acquitted in a retrial on Friday by a court that determined that the supposed murder victim had died in an accident.
Manfred Genditzki, 63, was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison in 2010 by a Munich court. Judges ruled then that he had hit an 87-year-old woman on the head in October 2008 after an argument at her apartment in the upscale Bavarian lakeside town of Rottach-Egern and then drowned her in a bathtub.
Genditzki, who worked as a caretaker at the complex where the woman lived, always insisted that he was innocent and appealed unsuccessfully against the original verdict. He fought for years to get a retrial, which he secured last August.
Announcing the verdict at the Munich state court on Friday, presiding Judge Elisabeth Ehrl told Genditzki, “You have heard the words you spent nearly 14 years waiting for.” She said he will have to be compensated for the time he wrongly spent in prison, German news agency dpa reported.
The judge said it had been a rocky road to justice for Genditzki and that he had pursued it with admirable patience. Genditzki followed the verdict calmly.
The court said it assumes that the woman died as a result of an accident. After hearing experts at the retrial, it said it was “not just possible, but probable,” and that there were no indications of a murder.
Judges found that the woman likely fell into the bathtub as she tried to wash laundry or take a foot bath, was unable to free herself — possibly because she was unconscious – and drowned.
Earlier this week, prosecutors called for Genditzki’s acquittal. In his closing words at the trial, Genditzki said, “I would like to say again that I am innocent. That’s all.”
People who are wrongfully imprisoned are entitled to 75 euros in compensation for every day in custody. In Genditzki’s case, that would add up to 368,400 euros (about $400,000). He could in principle also seek compensation for loss of earnings.